


*the fierce feline hides in the bushes and then POUNCES*

by Farla



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Sgrub Session, Gen, POV Second Person, btp, rbtf
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-18
Updated: 2015-01-18
Packaged: 2018-03-07 08:35:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,487
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3168434
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Farla/pseuds/Farla
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They had a lot of plans for what they'd do once they got off planet.</p>
            </blockquote>





	*the fierce feline hides in the bushes and then POUNCES*

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Rema (aetherGeologist)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/aetherGeologist/gifts).



When you were kids, first talking about rebellion, it was always something that'd happen after you were in space. You'd all make it off-planet, of course, even Feferi, she'd get a ship of her own (one that ran somehow, there had to be other ways, right, or maybe someone who deserved it) and you'd ferment mutiny and sabotage the Empress' plans and assassinate her generals and take over ships.

It was always childish talk, and you sort of knew it, but you were sure you'd have better ideas of what to do by the time you were adults.

 

When you come back to your cave you find Trollian full of messages from Feferi.

CC: Nepeta  
CC: Glub  
CC: )(ave you left already?  
CC: M-ESSAG-E M--E!  
CC: I )(eard you were going to actually see Karkat go!  
CC: Did you see t)(em c)(ecking blood and stuff to verify peoples identity?  
CC: Sollux )(as been saying )(e could )(ack t)(e database for me and get me onboard wit)(out )(-ER knowing.  
CC: )(es already been working on it for )(is own file.  
CC: )(e t)(inks t)(ats t)(e safest t)(ing for me to do.  
CC: glubglubglub  
CC: glub  
CC: glub  
CC: glub  
CC: glub  
CC: glub  
CC: glub  
CC: glub  
CC: glub  
CC: glub  
CC: glub  
CC: glub  
CC: glub  
CC: glub  
CC: glub  
CC: glub  
CC: glubglub  
CC: glub  
CC: glub  
AC: :33 < don't fefuri it won't work they'll kill you  
AC: :33 < they know  
AC: :33 < they knew about karkitty  
AC: :33 < they killed him

Karkat hadn't given any explanation for why he was volunteering to be one of the first to leave. You guess now that maybe he thought they wouldn't scrutinize early volunteers as closely.

They splattered him across the rocks, answering a lot of your questions at once.

CC: W)(at?  
CC: No no )(e never did anyt)(ing t)(ey can't )(ave killed )(im.  
CC: I never even met )(im in person )(ow could t)(ey know?  
AC: :33 < it wasn't about the plans  
AC: :33 < it wasn't anything he said  
AC: :33 < or did  
AC: :33 < or thought  
AC: :33 < they just decided he wasn't good enough  
AC: :33 < that's all  
AC: :33 < he wasn't good enough and they killed him

Equius would be beside himself. He hadn't wanted you to go at all. Seeing the leaving, and the cullings that went with it, was one of the things you could get culled for. You weren't supposed to cheat by knowing what would happen. But you said you knew how to hide and you just wanted to see how things went for Karkat, and Equius had finally said it was probably okay because everyone knew he was a lowblood and the standards for greenbloods like yourself were probably totally different.

No one had noticed you, not even when the adults had shouted to kill everyone and people had scattered and the adults shot them and searched the area to make sure no one had escaped. Not even when they ran by you. You were the best hunter, and the best hunter knows how prey behave. The best hunter knows you're harder to find if you hold perfectly still.

The adults had taken the rest of the bodies off to eat. Karkat they burned, like he wasn't even worth that much.

Now you type, :33 < don't try it  
AC: :33 < if you try to be somebody brand-new they'll still know you're fefuri  
AC: :33 < they'll be expecting you to escape and they'll kill you  
AC: :33 < you can't die too  
CC: S)(-ELL kill me if I stay!  
CC: S)(e sent a message to me.  
CC: T)(ere's a date. T)(e s)(ip's turned around.  
CC: S)(-ELL be )(ere in two pedigrees!

You bite your lip until your mouth is full of green. Green is okay, Equius always said, not too high and not too low. You've never cared about blood before, but suddenly you're so glad that you're dull olive green and not brilliant screaming red. You wish she could be olive too. You wish, even, that she could go instead of you, because Feferi has to survive this, she has to beat the Empress and make it so this never happens again. But she'd never be able to pass for you.

AC: :33 < maybe you could take some other purrson's place?  
AC: :33 < like eridan's?

She could pass for Eridan, especially in his showy outfits and with the purple makeup he always wears to make his bloodcolor obvious keeping any speck of Feferi's real color showing through. They won't be suspicious when that's how he always dresses.

Feferi doesn't respond for a little while. Finally you see,  
)(e left already.

W3'R3 BON3D, Terezi sends you a day later. HOW M4NY OF US 3V3N M4K3 1T P4ST TH3 F1RST T3ST? W3 H4V3 TO F4C3 F4CTS.  
AC: :33 < it's not impawsible!  
GC: 4ND TH3 N3XT T3ST  
GC: 4ND TH3 N3XT  
GC: 4ND BY TH3 T1M3 W3'R3 4NYWH3R3 1MPORT4NT  
GC: W3'LL LOOK 4ROUND 4ND W3'LL B3 SURROUND3D BY P3OPL3 WHO P4SS3D TH3M 4LL  
GC: WHO W4NT3D TO B3 TH3R3 4LL 4LONG

Retrieving new adults was one of the jobs novice legislacerators had.

Finally, you typed, :33 < what if they're all just doing it to survive and waiting fur someone like Fefuri?

GC: WOULD YOU H4V3 K1LL3D K4RK4T TO SURV1V3?  
GC: R1GHT  
GC: SO YOU'D B3 D34D TOO  
GC: HOW M4NY K4RK4TS DO YOU TH1NK SOM3ON3 C4N K1LL 4ND ST1LL C4R3 4BOUT 4 R3VOLUT1ON  
GC: HOW M4NY G4MZ33S  
GC: HOW M4NY N3P3T4S

gallowsCalibrator [CG] ceased trolling arsenicCatnip [AC]

Kanaya, when she finally weighed in, was more level-headed.

GA: The Fact Is We Know Extremely Little About Adulthood And What It Entails  
GA: We Are Left Almost Entirely To Our Own Devices From Wigglerhood On  
GA: We Have Media That Gives Us Some Idea Of What Life Beyond Our Home Planet Is Like But No Way Of Knowing Its Accuracy  
GA: And As It Is Often Contradictory We Can Be Sure That The Majority At Least Is Not True  
GA: We Can Be Relatively Certain Of Only A Few Things Due To Firsthand Observation  
GA: We Know Adults Exist  
GA: We Know They Live Off Planet Throughout The Rest Of The Empire  
GA: We Know Some Are Charged With Taking New Adults Off Planet  
GA: From What You Saw And Rumors Of Other People Spying  
GA: We Know Not Everyone Makes It Off And Are Culled Instead  
GA: Like Most Of Us I Think I Have Assumed That Surviving Other Child Trolls And Being Generally Capable Was Satisfactory  
GA: It Is Not A Subject I Wished To Dwell On  
GA: Now I Fear That Was A Mistake  
GA: We Dont Know There Have Been No Rebellions But We Know There Have Been No Successes  
GA: We Dont Know What Will Be Required Of Us And The Others We Hope To Sway To Our Cause  
GA: We Dont Know Anything Important  
AC: :33 < we know one thing!!  
AC: :33 < we know no purrson is paying attention to us  
AC: :33 < bepaws I've told 3v3ryone I went to s33 it and no one's come to cull me!!

grimAuxiliatrix is now an idle troll

AC: :33 < kanaya?  
GA: Nepeta Were You At Risk Of Being Discovered Do You Think  
GA: Were You In Danger By Doing That Was There A Chance You Would Be Seen  
AC: :33 < no  
GA: Are You Sure  
AC: :33 < pawsative!  
GA: Do You Think You Could Do So Again  
GA: Safely  
GA: Aside From Rumors We Have Only What You Saw To Go On  
GA: It Would Be Nice To Know If I Should Expect To Be Killed  
GA: Or If That Is Simply A Possibility That Might Occur  
AC: :33 < abpurrlutely! being a great hunter means being a great hider  
AC: :33 < but i wouldn't know how to find them  
AC: :33 < karkitty told me the coordinates fur his pickup  
AC: :33 < or  
AC: :33 < what was supposed to be  
AC: :33 < i'd told him about hunting in that area befur and he didn't want me to run into them by accident  
GA: I Will Make Inquiries  
GA: Thank You Nepeta I Will Contact You If I Find A Way

  
AG: Hey Nepeta  
AG: I know the rest of you are getting cold stompers.  
AG: And maybe you're right!!!!!!!!  
AG: But I'm different.  
AG: And I'm going to be a PIR8, not some regular rank and file secret rebellion grunt following the rules and getting transferred wherever.  
AG: And I can't do that without a ship!  
AG: So come check me out.  
\-- arachnidsGrip [AG] sent arsenicCatnip [AC] the file "hereswhereileaveyoulosers.gif" --  
AG: Maybe you'll get some tips on how to pass with flying colors!  
AG: Oh and don't tell Eridan I'm going to be a pir8!!!!!!! I said that was stupid wriggler nonsense and only baby losers would think I was still into that so he can't rat me out. He thinks I'm aiming for threshcutioner. Lame!!!!!!!  
AG: Even Karkat was too good for them.

What you see the second time is this:

The group looks very similar. Maybe some of the kids would've looked better up close, since green to blue was supposed to be, but from your hiding place, they're no different from the reds and yellows of Karkat's group.

The adults come out and start to walk through the group and then one of them stabs a kid through the chest and yanks the blade upward, sending green everywhere.

The kids around react. They're turning and shouting and the adults start to hack through them too.

When the last one dies the kid next to her flinches. His head flies off next.

Once everyone is still and quiet, the adults continue down the line. You wonder what they'd done to be marked for culling, and if some of it was just random, to flush out anyone who showed weakness.

The person standing next to Vriska has his skull caved in.

That adult pauses in front of Vriska and says something, then rolls back his arm to show gleaming steel. They hi-five, metal-on-metal, Vriska still staring straight ahead like she hasn't even noticed the teal splattering half her face.

AC: :33 < equius i can't do this  
AC: :33 < i can't  
AC: :33 < they'll kill me  
CT: D --> Nepeta, calm down.  
CT: D --> You're a proper troll.  
CT: D --> Pre-adulthood jitters are unworthy of you.  
AC: :33 < you don't understand!  
AC: :33 < i can't be vriskers!  
AC: :33 < that's what they want equius they want vriskers! they want trolls who can just watch other kids die!  
AC: :33 < i can't do that  
AC: :33 < terezi is right i'll never make it off the planet except in some adult's stomach  
AC: :33 < none of us will

After a little while, Equius wrote,

CT: D --> Tell me what happened.  
CT: D --> All of it.

And you do.

After a little while, he replies.

CT: D --> You can do this.  
AC: :33 < i can't!  
CT: D --> You can. You're brave and STRONG.  
CT: D --> It'll be like one of your hunts.  
CT: D --> You just have to remain still and ready until the time is right.  
AC: :33 < equius i don't want to be vriskers  
AC: :33 < even if i could be i don't want to be!  
AC: :33 < they killed everyone with karkitty, equius!  
AC: :33 < they killed everyone and they ran and screamed and one of them went right by me and i stayed still and i didn't help  
AC: :33 < and i could've helped  
AC: :33 < but i was scared so i let them die so i would be safe  
AC: :33 < if you pretend to be something furever it's the same thing as being it  
CT: D --> Nepeta.  
CT: D --> Please.  
CT: D --> You have to.  


grimAuxiliatrix [GA] opened memo on board Adulthood Planning Session.

GC: TH1S 1S 4 W4ST3 OF T1M3  
GA: So Youve Said  
GA: And Were Apparently Waiting To Say Again  
AC: :33 < kanaya what are we supposed to do?  
GC: W3 G1V3 UP ON TH3 DUMB WR1GGL3R DR34M OF R3B3LL1ON 4ND JUST TRY TO T4K3 DOWN 4 F3W OF TH3M F1RST  
GC: TH3Y WON'T B3 3XP3CT1NG TH4T SO W3 C4N K1LL 4T L34ST ON3 B3FOR3 W3 1N3V1T4BLY D13  
GC: 1'LL M4K3 TH3M WORK FOR 1T  
GA: Its Not Impossible To Get On A Ship Just Because Of This  
GA: We May Have To Do It In An Unconventional Manner Is All  
GA: For Example Instead of Committing Suicide By Legislacerator As Individuals We All Gather To Launch A Possibly Survivable Attack  
GA: From Your Description Nepeta The Adults Do Not Have Superior Numbers  
AC: :33 < there's more of them than just us  
AC: :33 < especially now  
GA: But Not More Than The Group Of Trolls Theyve Come To Get  
GA: We Will Have The Element Of Surprise And The Others May Rally When They See Weve Felled Some  
GA: Then We Take The Ship  
CT: D --> 100dicrous.  
CT: D --> You cannot expect an uprising simply by stabbing one legislacerator or subjuggulator.  
CT: D --> The majority of the group made it onto the ship.  
CT: D --> If they do anything it will be to attack you from behind during the attempt.  
AC: :33 < we don't know that fur sure  
AC: :33 < they were scared!  
AC: :33 < they weren't expecting it and they didn't know what to do  
AC: :33 < the adults do it to make us too afraid to think or work together  
AC: :33 < they don't know what to do and freeze up  
AC: :33 < like squeakbeasts getting picked off by Pounce  
GC: 4ND TH3Y WON'T H4V3 4NY 1D34 WH4T W3'R3 DO1NG 31TH3R  
GC: TO SURPR1S3 TH3 4DULTS W3'D H4V3 TO 4TT4CK F1RST  
GC: W3'D LOOK L1K3 LUN4T1CS COMM1T1NG SU1C1D3 TOG3TH3R  
GC: 4ND TH3N W3'D B3 LUN4T1CS WHO COMM1TT3D SU1C1D3 TOG3TH3R  
GC: 4LL FOR 4 CH4NC3 OF G3TT1NG ON 4 SH1P NON3 OF US C4N FLY  
GC: 4ND WOULD B3 VAPOR1S3D BY TH3 R3ST OF TH3 FL33T 1F 1T D1D  
GA: We Dont Know How Much The Ships Communicate Sollux Is Still Trying To Hack In  
GC: SOLLUX 1S GO1NG TO D13 TRY1NG  
GC: H3'S NOT H3R3 TO 4RGU3 H3 C4N DO 1T B3C4US3 H3'S PROB4BLY 4LR34DY ST4RV3D TO D34TH 1N H1S H1V3ST3M  
GC: 4ND TH3N WH4T WOULD 1T 3V3N M4TT3R W3 M4K3 F3F3R1 4 THRON3 4ND SH3 RUL3S OV3R H3R SP4C3SH1P K1NGDOM UNT1L TH3 3MPR3SS TR4CKS US 4LL DOWN?  
GC: TH3 1D34 W4S TO SPR34D TH3 WORD 4CROSS TH3 FL33T  
GC: NOT S1T 4ROUND 1N 4 M3T4L BOX FOR 4 WH1L3 TH3N D13  
GC: TH4T'S WHY F3F3R1 1SN'T H3R3 SH3 KNOWS NON3 OF TH1S W1LL WORK  
GC: W3'R3 OUTNUMB3R3D 4ND OUR ONLY HOP3 W4S TO G3T TH3 CH4NC3 TO CONV1NC3 MOST OF TH3M 1N S3CR3T F1RST  
GC: 4ND NOW W3'R3 S331NG W3 C4N'T  
GC: TH3R3 1S NO W4Y OUT OF H3R3  
AC: :33 < what if we told the rest of the trolls getting picked up?  
AC: :33 < if they knew and they were ready fur the attack it'd be easy to take the ship  
GC: 4ND TH3N ON3 OF TH3M ST4BS US 1N TH3 B4CK WHY SHOULD TH3Y 3V3N B3L13V3 US L3T 4LON3 H3LP?  
GA: Even Equius  
GA: No Offense Meant  
GA: Supports Feferi  
GA: Our Empress Is Hated And Mad  
GA: And I Cant Imagine Most People Liking How High The Risk Of Being Culled Actually Is  
GC: 1T ONLY T4K3S ON3  
GC: JUST ON3 P3RSON WHO TH1NKS TH3Y H4V3 4 B3TT3R CH4NC3 M4K1NG 1T OFF-PL4N3T 4L1V3 1F TH3Y PROV3 TH3MS3LV3S B3TR4Y1NG US R4TH3R TH4N H3LP1NG W1TH OUR STUP1D D34TH PL4N  
GC: 1N 4 GROUP TH4T B1G TH3R3'LL B3 PL3NTY OF ON3S.  
GC: F4C3 1T TH3R3 1S NO W4Y W3 M4K3 1T OFF

  
You go out to hunt a dinner for yourself and Pounce de Leon, and find Feferi waiting outside your cave when you return.

"Fefuri!" you squeal, dropping your kill to free your arms for the more important work of tacklehugging. You drag her inside. "What are you going here why are you outside what if somebody sees you and kills you?"

The few times you met Feferi in person, it was at Gamzee's hive on the shore, where she could, everyone hoped, swim back into the waiting tentacles of Gl'bgolyb if anyone tried assassinating her.

"Well," she says, smiling brightly, "I figured the date's set now, right? She won't go through all the trouble of coming back to cull me herself only to have some other person assassinate me early!"

You hug her tighter. "We have to figure something out."

"That's...what I wanted to talk about." She takes a deep breath. "I don't want the rest of you to die."

"Fefuri?"

"Even if we can't change anything, at least you shouldn't die. If - if you can talk Equius into making robot legs for Tavros like he said he could, real troll legs and not musclebeast ones, maybe that'll be good enough if they didn't cull Vriska over her arm. Then we just have to talk Terezi out of killing herself attacking the adults, and - and - maybe there's something we can do for Gamzee, he's an indigoblood and they're so rare maybe they won't be too picky."

"What about you?" you ask. "Did...did Sollux hack a ship down or something?"

She doesn't answer.

"Fefuri?"

"We talked and he's going to wait and then come with me when SHE comes down," Feferi says, her voice shaking. "hen I'll kill him. So at least they won't- they won't-"

Once she starts crying she doesn't stop.

A long time ago, back when Aradia was normal, she told you something. She said she'd found old records and diaries that were supposedly by adults who lived on the planet, and some had said that after a failed rebellion, the empress had ordered everyone but wrigglers into space to prevent another one.

She didn't think it was true. She said she found stuff like that all the time. Some of the "ancient writings" she'd seen were made of paper clearly no older than she was, and the ones that really were old, she said, were probably just the same sort of pranks but from past kids instead. Archaeologists were a jealous and prideful bunch, she explained, who put at least as much effort into confusing the future as they did figuring out the past. Only a masterful archaeologist would get a forgery just right, and any non-master archaeologist didn't deserve to know about the real past, and that was why they were out burying these tablets and some bones from Nepeta's kills.

But did it matter, really? Aradia hasn't talked to anyone in sweeps.

You tell Feferi you have one last idea.

 

arsenicCatnip [AC] opened memo on board *purr purr*.

AC: :33 < the adults go into space because it's the empress' orders right?  
AC: :33 < they're only allowed to set foot on the planet again to collect new adults  
AC: :33 < so what if we stay??  
AC: :33 < we have two purroblems!  
AC: :33 < fur the furst, lots of us purrobably don't even make it on board a ship  
AC: :33 < and we don't know how often people die after that  
AC: :33 < moewving to a new unknown place is always the most dangerous thing you can do  
AC: :33 < if you stay in your own territory you know where to hide and where to ambush  
AC: :33 < when we leave we give all that up  
AC: :33 < fur the second, the people we want to listen to us will be dying too!  
AC: :33 < the fact we s33 them cull so many means that here and now, there are a lot of people who agree with us  
AC: :33 < the best chance of spreading the word of fefuri and building support fur her is here!  
AC: :33 < as long as fefuri's alive the empress can't make her lusus glub everybody on the planet to death  
AC: :33 < and if she wants to hunt us down herself she has to send down lots of adults  
AC: :33 < but aradia told me something once  
AC: :33 < the whole reason there's no adults on planet is because she wanted to purrvent rebellion!  
AC: :33 < she might not even risk it  
AC: :33 < or she might and it'll backfire  
AC: :33 < either way we'll know the place better than any of the people coming down  
AC: :33 < and just staying here as adults, and telling other kids to stay too to adulthood and fight her  
AC: :33 < rather than going up in space on her terms  
AC: :33 < is something she worked to prevent!  
AC: :33 < so there's a good chance it'll work!!  
AC: :33 < what do you think?

It's well past dawn, and you aren't expecting anyone to reply right away, but Trollian flashes.

GC: OK4Y  
GC: 1'M 1N


End file.
